Jina hesitated, taking a slow deep breath. Her nerves felt fried, her heart slammed so hard into her chest and she kept running her hands on her pants. When there was another knock on her door she finally opened the bedroom door. Thomas stood in the doorway, he looked exited, his whiskey brown eyes lit up in excitement. It was odd seeing him smile and in not work clothes. He wore jeans and a simple t shirt, and it looked good on him. She felt her stomach summersault and then she swooned slightly when he smiled even bigger. 

"Good! I'm glad your coming. Come on!"

"Hurry up!" Teressa whined, she was standing behind him with her arms crossed.

Jina frowned at her friend. She really didn't know what Teressa had against her lately. They had been great friends for a long time, she had been kind and welcoming, and really helpful when Jina first joined the team. But over the last few months she noticed Tess was becoming more distant and colder, snappier and more possessive with Thomas, like she was upset if he talked to her for too long. She shook her thoughts from her mind- she was going this to see her brother for the first time in years.

"I'm still really nervous about this Tommy!" Jina whispered, glancing out the door and down the hall. "What happens if we're caught?"

Thomas grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the hall, the door swung shut behind her. "Nothing. See? Nothing happened. Tess is a whiz on the computers, And you're in Randell and Doctor Paige and Leavitt's good books, you'll be fine! Now come on!" He grinned at her, it was so open and honest she couldn't help but smile back.

"Okay... Led the way."

"I knew you were a rebel deep down inside. Minho said he was going to sneak into the cafeteria tonight and grab some cookies for tonight."

"Does he know I'm coming?"

"Nope. I never told him. It's gonna be the best surprise!" Thomas grinned down at her again, he still had his hand around her wrist and was practically running down the hall in his excitement. Teresa was stomping down the hall behind them. Jina glanced behind her and frowned.

"Tommy?" She whispered, "What's wrong with Tess? Why is she like that?"

Thomas frowned again, and glanced behind him at the other girl.

"Umm...well... she doesn't think this is a good idea. She said that we are supposed to stay separate for a reason..."

"Oh." Jina whispered quietly, she had a heavy sinking feeling in her chest. "But you guys go.. It...it doesn't have anything with me like...taking away from her time with you- I mean the other guys?"

"What do you mean?"

"Umm...well-" She stopped mid sentence when Jina felt Tess right behind her. "Nothing Tommy." 

 She refused to say anymore. Teressa pushed between them, so she was walking right against Thomas's arm. Jina didn't want to fight, so she backed off and followed behind them while they talked. Thomas kept glancing behind him and trying to bring Jina into the conversation, but the closer they got to this meeting place the more anxious and nervous she got. Thomas got to a door and glanced around and then slipped into the narrow dark hall, Tess and Jina followed, he led them down a maintenance hall and then stopped outside a door. He knocked three times and then paused and knocked three more times.

There was hushed voices and then the door cracked open, a dark eye with a curtain of blond hair peeked through and then the door was thrown open. "Hey chap! You're late! We thought you got caught or something!" A tall blond boy who looked rather familiar stood in the door.

"Sorry, Newt...we had to pick something up." Thomas said and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to Jina who stood nervously behind.

"Oh?" He looked around, his eyes went wide, "Oh! Is that...?" He asked raising his eyebrows and looked at Thomas. Thomas grinned again and nodded. The boy named Newt grinned again, this time like he held a secret. Thomas looked at Jina and nodded encouragingly. Jina slowly stepped forward.

"Newt this is Jina. Jina this is Newt...Sonya's brother."

"Wait...Sonya's...BROTHER?" Jina gasped.

"You know her?" Newt cried.

Jina nodded. "Yeah, we were bunk mates for four years before I was moved to their hall."

"Well! If you can handle my twat of a sister... and Minho as a buggen' brother...Welcome to the maintenance room!"

He stepped out of the way and let her see the inside. It was the size of a small classroom- a few shelves with cleaning supplies a small table with chairs. She spotted another guy, Alby, she recognized him from the screens and tests she had worked on. There was a blond haired girl sitting on top of the table laughing at something someone said. She looked up, and Sonya meet her eyes. Her mouth dropped open. She smacked the boy in front of her a few times trying to get his attention. The boys boots left the table and then the chair legs hit the ground. A head of black hair turned. Jina let a small squeak out. Tears filled her eyes. 

"No shucken WAY!" The boy yelped and leapt to his feet.

"Minho!" She cried and threw herself into the room. 

Her brother tripped over the chair in his rush to get to her. Jina felt his arms wrap around her for the first time in four long years. The damn of tears broke and Jina was crying and laughing. He pulled back and looked at her. He held her at arms length looking her up and down. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. She pulled him back into a hug.

"Where the shuck did you go?" He finally asked as he pulled away to see her again. "One day you're called out of class and that's the last I see of you!"

"I work with Tommy and Tess now and two others, Rachel and Aris."

Minho looked the same, dark intelligent eyes that look slightly skeptical. When he smiled at her they creased into half moons, his crooked cocky grin was the same. He had grown up, he was now 15 almost 16 now. He had filled out; strong broad shoulders, his hair was still the same- swooped in the front. It was still her big brother.

"You grew up little Minho." Jina teased. He was now also a full head taller then her.

"You didn't." 

"I stopped at perfection." She sassed and flung her hair over her shoulder, sticking a hip out. "You, it seemed, had to keep growing to reach it." She teased back.

Minho gasped, throwing a hand to his chest. There were a few sniggers behind them.

"Carful shank, she might be sassier then you, man! Dang sis!" Alby chuckled.

Jina grinned mischievously up at her brother.

"Okay, I'll admit, when we first heard about Tommy and Tess we figured they were some bucktoothed weirdos, spewin' buggen' Shakespeare. Lotta rumors centering around the high-faluten folks. But now...they're okay, and then we heard about this new one, apparently Minho's baby sister. Tommy said you were good...but wanted to see for ourselves. Also wanted to see Minho's buggen' face." Newt grinned. 

Minho shoved Newt's head with an eye roll. Jina spent the rest of the night chatting with Minho, talking about everything and how she had been working with the scientists and doctors, telling them vaguely what she had been up to for the last few years- keeping details out of it of course.

"So you were too busy to ask about me?" Minho asked. Jina could see the anger and hurt in his eyes, his mood shifted almost instantly. "You just disappeared! Nothing for four years Jina!" He had stood up suddenly, making the chair topple backwards. Jina flinched and felt the tears prick her eyes.

"Hey man, slim it. She did ask!" Thomas came to her defense, "Randell threw her into The Chair the last time she asked about you. She was in the Hospital wing for four days after that! We didn't know where she was!"

"What? What's the chair?" Newt asked, looking back and forth between Thomas and Jina. Jina had gone pale and shivered at the unwelcomed thought. 

"It's a chair...and you're strapped down with these like arm things and uhh..." Thomas started, he looked nervous and anxious all of a sudden.

"And it electrifies you." Jina snapped.  "If I disobey them, Minho, I'm shocked and electrocuted!" She said, her voice started to raise in volume and it shook with emotion. "Believe me, I wanted to see you! And Sonya and Harriet, and Jill and Yelena and Flossie and Thea, Beth...and everyone else I had been with for four years! You have no idea!" 

Minho had come back over, all his anger had washed away. He grabbed her shoulders, his eyes softened as he studied her face. "They hurt you when you asked about me?"

She just nodded her head, "I'm terrified to disobey them, Min. Randell is...he's dangerous." She whispered. Minho pulled her into a safe and protective hug and held her tight.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry Jina! I promised dad I'd look after you! And then you disappeared! I thought you went without a look back, leaving me behind. And I was angry with you for years. I didn't know they were hurting you!"

"I'm sorry Minho!" She cried softly, squishing her face into his shoulder, hugging her brother back tightly.

She spent the rest of the night with them, getting to know the boys. She also got to laugh with Sonya again and hear about Harriet and the other girls. It was 4 am when they finally left the closet and had made plans to meet back in two nights.

< • >

That was how she spent the next few weeks. Sneaking out with Thomas and Teressa, sometimes Aris would come, and he got to know the others too. Sometimes Harriet would come, sometimes a little boy named Chuck would come. Sometimes Teressa refused to come and it was just Thomas and Jina sneaking down the hall. 

On those nights Jina's anxiety was high, she didn't know if Teressa had the tapes on loop, but Thomas always stuck up for her, saying she would never throw them under the bus. Jina wasn't so sure, she had become really snappy and cold with her over these last few weeks- ever since she started sneaking out with Thomas- even more then before. Always making everything into a fierce competition. Whenever Jina was around to work with them she was cold and sharp. A few times Thomas had told her to stop speaking in his head so Jina could also work with them. Jina would just give a tight lipped smile and continue working, pretending one of her only friends wasn't becoming a monster. She swallowed the hurt and continued her work.

It seemed to be, on the days Teressa didn't come with them, Thomas was more relaxed and a little more adventurous. Jina slowly started to loosen up, she was more relaxed without Teressa's angry glares. Minho, Newt and Alby took them all over the building- through the vents- they went on all kind of adventures. 

One night the group of them discovered a laboratory even Jina didn't know about. Inside the lab were about two dozen huge foul smelling vats of steaming liquid. Even at 2am workers in full hazmat suits were walking around inside the room. As the group watched from above in the vent, Jina swore she saw some kind of fish or tentacle moving beneath the steaming liquid. Minho had explained to Thomas and her that they had no idea what was going on, they had been watching this place for a while now. Jina made a silent vow to try and figure out what was really going on.

Another night they had found the administrative offices. They had even caught a couple who had stayed back after everyone else had left for some spicy shmexy time. Jina pretended to dry heave while Thomas and Newt went bright red and became very flustered and uncomfortable. Alby barley stopped Minho in time for jumping out and scarring the couple. Jina and Thomas agreed later, he should have let Minho scare them. Jina and Thomas couldn't stop giggling about it the next day, much to the annoyance of Teressa and Rachel. (Jina had informed Aris right away and he shivered as bad as Thomas had.)

The next night they had found a hospital room. There were complicated looking mask like things that draped along each bed. There were all kinds of tubes and wires branching out from the mask, they were each studded with all kinds of monitoring equipment. It made Jina shiver in anxiety and horror. There was something sinister about this room, she felt a de ja vou moment, like she had been here before. Thomas wanted to stay and figure out what the mask things were for, but Alby got them out rather quickly. Jina stood staring at the bed, muttering to herself. Minho had to tug her away from the end of the bed.

It took her a while to figure out why she felt so uncomfortable with that room. And it was only after Thomas suggested she might have been victimized by those weird masks.

Maybe the week you were in the hospital wing with that flu thing. He suggested inside her head as they walked back to the maintenance room- they had started to become more comfortable talking with each other. (Jina's heart still beat wildly, but she wasn't so nervous.)

He was probably right about the masks. She hated not being able to remember anything about that week. And every time she tried she got a headache and an uncomfortable feeling. Back in the storage room she was still mulling over what she saw.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Minho asked knocking her head with his knuckles. 

She smacked his hand away still frowning. "I'm just...it's bugging me. I've been in that room. I just can't remember why. And then when I think of other things...like my original name before I was forced to have Jina...I get an awful headache. And now...I-" She stopped herself before she spilt secrets about what she actually worked on. How she was working beside Doctor Paige and Doctor Leavitt and working closely with the other doctors and Psyches and research teams from many other maze groups. She closed her mouth and squeezed her eyes closed. She swallowed and tried again.

"I dunno. I keep thinking about this place, thinking about WICKED. Thinking how they did something terrible by stealing us from our families..."

"Yeah." Alby said, though the half grin on his face showed that he'd probably considered what Jina was about to say next.

"But I'm not so sure anymore." She said quickly. "Ya ..I get an uncomfortable vibe sometimes...but Min. Our parents left us here. They dropped us off on the front step and walked away! Sure I have a different name and I'm kept busy and away from you, but... I've been given an awesome opportunity to work with actual doctors and Psyches and research teams and...things I've never been able to do."

Minho was frowning at her, his huge arms folded. He was leaning back on his chair making it balance on two feet- his usual tell tale sign he was irritated.  "So your saying this place is good?"

"Well...I remember someone saying, WICKED is good. It's said often enough. I think..." Jina said slowly, cautious about her next words, "our lives might have a lot more purpose than we could ever know. I think we need to remember the bigger picture." Jina had too much rolling around her mind to put it into clear words, and her brother was looking at her like she had grown three heads. "Just...uh!" She ran a hand through her hair and growled in frustration.

"No, Jin, I think your right." Thomas added as well, he had a cute little look of concentration, his face was scrunched as he thought about her words. He was nodding slowly. "We do need to keep this all in perspective. We're safe, we're warm, were fed. We're protected from the weather and cranks. Jina's right, she gets to work with people and in situations we'd never have other wise..."

"You make it sound like a bloody holiday!" Newt muttered.

"Could be worse." Thomas added with a shrug. Jina was thankful Thomas jumped into her thought process and helped explain.

"Not to mention," she kept thinking out loud, "the small fact that were trying to help save the entire human race from a disease that makes you violent and eventually kills you in a horrible way."

"And that means you, Newt." Alby added, slamming his hand down on Newt's shoulder. "I don't want a watch you go all Cranky on me someday."

That seemed to sobber everyone up fast. Jina still didn't feel like she conveyed what was bothering her though. And she didn't know how. "Ya...things aren't perfect...but we're trying!" She added lamely. She looked to Minho who was sitting with his arms crossed glaring at her.

"WE?" He asked. "Since when are YOU a we? Since when do you associate with the people who took your name, and electrocuted you when you asked about me?" He slammed the chair down onto the ground. "Make up all the shucken fantasies about WICKED you want. Tell yourselves this is all a good cause, that they treat us well. I'm not buying it." He glared at the other guys. "Looks like I'm the only one still working on..." Minho trailed off mid sentence and shook his head. "I'm heading back to my room now. Later."

Minho was already over to the door and pulling it open before anyone could recover.

"What are you talking about?" Alby asked.

Minho had his back to them, stiff and straight and tense. Jina opened her mouth to say something and stepped forwards, her hand out stretched, like she could reach him, when he spoke and she dropped her hand to her side.

"We used to talk about escaping before Thomas and Teresa and now my sister came around... Sure it's been fun...but since you showed up Jina, you brought this stupid idea that this place might be beneficial to us. Well... I never stopped think about it. Or planning for it. We should be here by our own choice, not by theirs. Not treated like prisoners. I hope you guys'll come with me. Especially you Jin."

"Minho!" Jina cried, "Out parents didn't even want us! I was hardly 6 when they dumped me here and left! This is all I've known!"

"I hope you come with me. When I'm ready."

He opened the door and was gone. Jina was left feeling horrible and alone. 

< • >

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